


A Bonding Drink

by Salted_Toffee



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Existential Crisis, Father-Daughter Relationship, Silly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:34:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25905928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Salted_Toffee/pseuds/Salted_Toffee
Relationships: Entrapta/Hordak (She-Ra)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 42





	A Bonding Drink

It was nothing formal. No big celebration or festival or parade, they were saving it all up for Etheria Day next week, the fifth annual planet-wide celebration of the defeat of Prime and the Horde. In the eyes of the Etherian public that is, of course there were still hundreds apon thousands scattered Galactic Horde cells all across dozens of galaxies. But shhhhhh, let the heroes have a breather.

Glimmer very clearly stated she wanted the gathering to be casual, a small barbeque. Her father gladly working on the grill. Only close friends were invited, or at least that was the plan, but when each of the princesses know each other it gets crowded fast. And everybody felt bad not inviting Entrapta, but obviously that meant she’d bring Hordak, which was a big no go for most of the attendants. Ex-conqueror and all that.

But not inviting Entrapta felt wrong. They felt an obligation to invite her. Mermista was slightly afraid she’d play ping-pong with their molecules if she found out they didn’t invite her, since she did casually mention once before she could do that. And so the party was in full swing, while Entrapta was educating the others that she was in fact just an adult woman with dwarfism rather than a child, her partner chose to relocate to a far corner of the royal garden and sat down on an old log near the hedges under the shadow of trees. He hoped he’d manage to disappear, hide in plain sight. Hoped he’d be forgotten if he didn’t interact, he only came for Entrapta.

Unfortunately for the alien, he was remembered. He felt weight descend apon the log a few inches away from him. He turned his head to the right just to be eye level with a fellow extra-terrestrial. She-Ra. Adora.

The golden Valkyrie warrior gave him a weak smile, it was clear that she had no idea how to approach small talk. Neither did he, that’s why he walked off, but there was no person on Etheria more stubborn and hopeful than her. God bless her heart.

“Sooooo, I don’t exactly know how to hit the ground running, so I resorted to the best conversation starter,” Adora held up two green tinted glass bottles, “You’re a beer guy right?” Hordak took one of the bottles, accepting the kind of gesture, he’d drink anything, anything would taste better than the purification pool. Adora was about to hand him the bottle opener to help with the cap, knowing Hordak wasn’t exactly made of muscles. But to her surprise the skeleton man didn’t require it, as he simply bite down on the cap and tore it off and spit it out. He sniffed it for a moment and proceeded to take a sip. He found out he didn’t hate it.

A small shiver escaped Adora as the chilly wind danced across her back. She currently didn’t have her jacket on her, because she gave it to Catra to keep her warm, a real - what one would call - serious power move. “You’re not cold?” She swore Hordak was the one most strangely clothed. He sported his iconic black dress, metallic knee high boots and forearm gauntlets, with dark red stained bandages pocking through underneath, and something that resembled a turtleneck without sleeves.

The silence returned. Hordak stayed quiet for longer than Adora expected, he took and another sip. His head bowed down in what Adora could only describe as anguish. “I can’t feel the cold.” He followed the statement with another gulp.

The Princess’ eyes widened slightly, “Oh... I didn’t know. I- I kind of thought you’re defects were healed, when Prime... you know... I should go.” In that awkward pause she decided that mentioning a person’s disability maybe wasn’t the greatest idea, between you and me, he is really sensitive. You should see him crying in bed after a night terror. Heh, what a looser.

“You aren’t incorrect.” Hordak admitted to her, which she took as a permission to stay. “Defection isn’t a path you can avoid. It simply happens. You may slow it down, but you can’t get rid of it. It simply... happens. That’s why Prime never bothered keeping defects around. Our ebb in efficiency is inevitable.”

“That’s terrible.”

“Really? I think it’s quite funny. A broken nobody faced against literally the strongest woman on the planet. Funny how the universe works.”

“Hey, I’m sorry. Cheer up.” She placed a hand on his shoulder, but removed it immediately as Hordak gave her a death glare. No touchy. She got it. “Ah, sorry again. W- Hey look I know it’s hard, and it’s tough to get the right words out. When I left the Horde I had a lot on my mind... C-... Castaspella runs private therapy sessions. Catra goes to her all the time, I went to her when I first got here. You should try it.” The girl gave the used-to-be warlord a reassuring smile, Hordak attempted to hide his own, pesky smiles, Hordak found that those kinds of gestures were infectious. He couldn’t count the number of times Entrapta made him turn into a, and I quote, ‘blushy-mushy’ puddle.

He cleared his throat, “Thank you for the advise. I will take it under consideration.”Satisfied with herself she extended her bottle to him, he indulged in a victorious clink of the glasses. And they both downed their drinks as if in a rush.

“What made you take me?” That was unexpected, but well, it had to come up eventually.

“What.”

“You know what. In the field.”

He looked down, trying to find answers somewhere in the empty bottle, no such luck. “I do not know. Shadow Weaver said she was potential in you. But I didn’t know what I saw. You were new. You were a completely unknown variable. Maybe there was - what you call - ‘good’ inside me all along, maybe you fascinated me on the level of a third grade science project, maybe there was nothing - I just did it and there’s nothing behind it.

...Or maybe everything was behind it.”

“Alright, I- Thank you for the ‘strongest woman on the planet’ complement, but it’s kind of undone by the ‘science project’ comparison.”

“My apologises. I have been told before I lack social skills.” He said eyeing the inside of the bottle checking if there was anything left inside. There wasn’t.

“It’s fine. You’re on par with Entrapta’s morbid space fascination. We kind of got used to it.”

“No one’s on par with Entrapta. She is unequalled.”

“You really fell head over heels for her didn’t you?” Adora stated as she attempted to slap the bottom of the bottle to get the last drops of the drink. Hordak couldn’t hide the smile that emerged at the mention of her name. “I know what you mean. When you find that someone, you’re other half, a soul mate. It’s a dream.”

“Is it? A dream, is that what it is?” Hordak massaged the bridge of his nose. Adora turned to him, all ears. “I- do not know how to put it into words. I have memorised the entire Etherian dictionary, and yet.”

“Really? Wow, who has the time? Wow. How? Wha- Nevermind, carry on.”

“I think I was going to take you in no matter what. It is not that I believe in a higher power, I can’t. But I feel like it is all set in stone, like it is all written out. Like no matter what, for better or for worse, it was always going to go the way it did. The exile. The formation of the Etherian Horde. You. The portal. And through that me dooming this world. It is as if it all needed to happen. All my life I wasn’t alive, I was asleep. In a dream. And then one day, I woke up.”

“Ho-”

“I- I can’t tell when, the defection, coming to this world, meeting her. But... the world changed. It all for the first time felt real. Like I had weight. Like my footsteps had impact. I awoke to reality. And for the first I’ve been looking around, sleeping things, taking it all in.”

“Hordak.”

"I have had people interact with me. And I have done things. It all feels so real. Too real for a dream... but... Everything I thought was right was wrong and everything wrong was right. I look around at the things I notice them and I don’t know if they’re right or wrong - or if there even is such a thing. Or maybe it’s a matter of opinion, but can opinions be right or wrong.”

“Hordak, breath.”

“Are there any rules, qualifications, and conditions necessary for one thing to be itself, the way it is or does nothing matter? Is it all meaningless? Formless? I- I mean is an animal that obeys the laws of nature and the food chain right, or is it wrong?” 

“Calm down. Slower. I ca-”

“My entire reality has been flipped on it’s head! I feel like I’m walking on a black and white chess board, but I can’t tell the colours apart. And if I misstep, I fall. But everything is upside down, so I don’t know where I’ll land. It’s all so different. I am imprisoned. Caged. Trapped. Am I falling into reality or into another dream. I just d-”

“Hordak!” Adora placed a hand on his shoulder, this time firmly, and it didn’t move away. “Bud, you’re on a loop.”

“My apologises, again. I just thought- I just thought after Prime it’d be all perfect, but it’s not.”

“...I know what you mean.”

Right. Of course she did. Hordak knew he dragged her and her fellow cadets into the loop. He kept walking in circles - he never broke the cycle, it was Adora. Because she was stronger and he was weak. Heh, funny how the universe works. Without a word the two looked down at their empty bottles and stood up simultaneously and went over to the barbeque for another drink, however stayed for Micah’s surprisingly good burgers.

They sat opposite each other, at the picnic bench. Hordak sank his fangs into the meat of the burger, bite off a large chunk, and found that he quite enjoyed it. He became more keen on the meat groups. No one in the history of Etheria had ever seen The Evil Horde’s Hordak eat. And next to She-Ra, it was like seeing bigfoot riding a unicorn. He greeted with an all too familiar bush of purple hair puffing around his shoulders. Entrapta had returned from her personal lecture session and looked tired because of it. “Umm, your burger looks good. Can I have a bite?” Her partner handed her the half eaten burger without a word. She yanked it out of his hand and began to nibble on it, despite her adoration for tiny food, she managed to make quick work of it. She just turned to face Hordak with puppy eyes silently.

“[sigh] Want me to get you another one?”

“Please and thank you.”


End file.
